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I'm currently learning to play guitar which has giving me a renewed interest in guitar music and guitarists. I know that there are alot of guitarists and music enthusiasts here so I thought I'd ask you to direct me to some great guitarists.
There are lots of lists on the internet for the greatest rock guitarists but I'm interested in a broader scope. I enjoy rock, folk, jazz and classical styles and I'd I'm interested in finding great guitarists in all those genres. I'm particularly interested in those that are less well known (i.e. the ones that don't make the list of the 10 greatest guitarists of all time).
I'm interested not just in the names of the guitarists but what you find empressive about their playing and if possible links to some of their work.
I'll start off with one I've discovered recently, Tommy Emmanuel. His vituouso picking is really over the top. He also works some need percusive techniques into his songs. linkPosts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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James Grus. But he's a freshman at my high school, so he probably isn't on Wikipedia. And I don't think he has an album. But he's really good. He uses a thumb pick.
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IloveTraceBundy. He's not the greatest acoustic player ever (although he's bloody good), but his music is fun to watch without becoming unfun to listen to (a problem I've found a lot of trick acoustic players run into). He does a lot of pretty cool crap, emphasis on fretless & sliding harmonics.
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Paco de Lucía is a great and innovative flamenco guitarist. Checka him out on itunes.
Edit to add that I can't talk about great guitarists without encouraging you to explore Jimi Hendrix. Yes, everyone knows Jimi Hendrix, but the more you learn about him and the things he did with his guitar, ZDANG!. Awesome. I strongly recommend his blues album.
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: ero, That is some cool stuff. How is he creating the sound using only the left hand? I haven't seen that technique before.
Also, What is the effect of using multiple capos on different frets?
He's hammering on REALLY hard, and using a good pickup.
You can't tell from the videos, but the different capos have holes drilled in them, allowing certain strings to remain unpressed until they encounter an undrilled capo. It basically lets you use really, really weird tunings and change them on the fly.
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I couldn't find any of his music online, but I didn't look overly hard. I'm not sure, but I thought plenty of it would be public domain, or close to it by now.
Anyway, he's pretty cool. He's one of the first musicians to really popularize the guitar as a solo instrument. Read the wiki about him.
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Sulaiman Zai Of course I would have no clue who he was if I didn't go to his son's fourth birthday party in 1990
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There's a cafe here in town named after Django Reinhardt, and it has good jazz.
edit: and the only works of his that would definitely be in public domain at this point would be those published before he was 13. Anything after 13 would only be a possibility if it either wasn't registered (that used to be required) or renewed (that used to be necessary, too).
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I personally have been listening to a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughn (who's a late, great, blues guitarist) and George Benson (who's a jazz guitarist/singer).
Stevie Ray Vaughn, check out Crossfire, Pride and Joy, Life By the Drop.
George Benson, check out On Broadway and This Masquerade.
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I absolutely love Kaki King. She's a young guitarist, mostly acoustic, and I've never heard anything quite like her stuff before. She did the talk show circuit a couple of years ago. Very original. Highly recommended. Here's a video. Playing With Pink NoisePosts: 127 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Yngwie Malmsteen (Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor) John Petrucci (Train of Thought, Octavarium) Added: Both of those are with Dream Theater.
I'm not huge on Joe Satriani, but the guy can play. Added: Oh, and Steve Vai.
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For slide guitar, it's hard to beat Duane Allman. If you're not familiar with The Allman Brothers Band, Duane played slide on Eric Clapton's "Layla."
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Rodrigo y Gabriela are two amazing guitar players. They have some videos in the media section of their site and they also have some songs on their myspace page.
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If you want to hear some great picking on a variety of string instruments (banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass) from a band that still tours, check out Yonder Mountain String Band. They are pretty darn amazing, both live and recorded.
Edit: What am I doing?! I just recommended string pickers and I didn't mention Bela Fleck?! Gah, foolish, foolish me. Check 'em out if you haven't already. www.flecktones.comwww.belafleck.com You won't regret it.
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You want ROCK guitar? Check out Avenged Sevenfold. Their guitarist, Synyster Gates, is absolutely amazing... and not at just rock guitar, too. He does a duet with his dad at the end of "Sidewinder" that's very flamenco-esque.
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Joey Santiago (of the Pixies) and Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) are two of the most innovative rock guitarists of the past twenty years. They both pioneered styles of dissonant, noise-heavy guitar that has become extremely common in the modern indie scene. Greenwood has also done some incredible things in modulating guitar sounds live through self-programmed pedals and laptops, making his trademark Telecaster produce sounds that you'd never even imagine a guitar could make.
I'm a big fan of Robert Sledge's bass playing for Ben Folds Five. He brought a hard rock, occasionally almost metal influence to the band, and made more extensive use of distortion than just about any bassist before or since. Since BFF were essentially a piano-based pop punk band, they relied heavily on Sledge's fuzzed-out bass to bring the furious energy essential to good punk rock. Sledge also gave BFF's mellower tunes a fluid, jazzy edge that set even their most radio-friendly songs apart from the treacly power ballad dreck with whom they competed.
As for current guitarists, I have to give props to Ted Leo. He's not the showiest guitar player around, but he has a knack for writing memorable lead guitar lines that wrap themselves into your head and never leave. He fuses punk energy with a neat Celtic sound (such as in the Irish fiddle-esque solo of "Timorous Me"), and is a fantastic singer to boot.
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I'm a fan of Jesse Cook. There are some clips on the website, and music videos as well, many of which show close-ups of his hands.
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How do you know he even has a Christian name? What if he only has pagan names? (JK )
Oh, and I second what twinky said. Except I am huge on Joe Satriani, even if he'll never make the top 10 guitarists of all time.
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Heh, well, if I had HIS name, I'd use a stage name, too.
Brian Elwin Haner Jr.
His dad's a good guitarist, too... but a little crude, so if you're not into that sorta thing, steer clear.
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I'll echo Django and Doc Watson, as well. And personally I think the way Paul Simon can fill up a whole song all by himself is impressive; get some of his live in concert stuff to hear what I mean.
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As far as folk/classical, I also recommend Phil Keaggy...
I have a ton of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai etc and they are neat if you like metal and rock, but Joe Satriani should stick to playing guitar and give up the vocals. Then again, they said the same thing about Hendrix...
I play guitar just for fun and love playing metal with a ton of crunch. I tend to sit there mindlessly churning out power chords. If you like thick, heavy chords like me check out Disturbed, Mastodon, Mushroomhead, Soil, and Breaking Benjamin. The vocal range from gutteral growling, screaming and even singing at times, so if you dislike the rage, then skip them. But I recommend these groups for the guitar work, not the vocals...
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Gypsy jazz is making a huge comeback. One of the modern virtuosos in that style is John Jorgenson. http://www.johnjorgenson.com/
Along wioth Eric Clapton, I would recommend JJ Cale, whose style is even smoother.
Leo Kotke, for a folkie sound.
One of my favorite guitarists and vocalist of all time: Jorma Kaukonen. (of Hot Tuna) His album "Quah" is probebly one of my most-listened-to studio cds.
John Mayer is an excellent blues guitarist, when he is not playing pop star.
Check out slack key guitarists from Hawaii.
I adore Jack Johnson.
I absolutely love Jeb Puryear's guitar style(Donna the Buffalo)
Jerry Garcia. I adore his acoustic guitar, particulary when he plays withe David Grisman(mandolin)
Stanley Jordan, of course.
Jackie Greene, for a varied style.
For something different, check out The Campbell Brothers, and their more rocking counterpart, Robert Randolph, who play "Sacred Steel," a version of guitar which emerged from a gospel dude, Willie Eason, who used the pedal steel guitar to mimic the voices in a choir.
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Also, Django Reinhardt died in the 1950's, and did not have all the fingers of his left hand, so I think that must be a clip- of people playing his music.
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*Hendrix *Clapton *Check Peter Green on very early Fleetwood Mac (prior to 1970). A WONDERFUL guitarist, wrecked by drugs. He's a mere shadow now. *Stephen Stills *Frank Zappa - capable of playing the raunchiest sounds ever, as well as amazingly beautiful melodic stuff. Check the triple cd "Shutup and Play Yer Guitar", as well as "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" *George Benson *Wes Montgomery - very influential jazz guitarist *Charlie Christian - jazz guitarist, probably the first 'lead guitar', from the 30s. *Terry Kath - Chicago's original guitarist, accidentally shot himself dead in the mid 70s. Great guitar player. Check their first album, especially the song 'Poem 58'. *Alvin Lee - leader of 'Ten Years After' (my favourite band name, btw) Amazingly fast. *Jeff Beck *Neil Young *John McLaughlin - both acoustic and electric. Sorta jazz-fusion, spectacular. *Al DiMeola - ditto. Incredible technique *Mark Knopfler - won't make anyone's top 10, but a nice player.
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I'm sorry, but Cobain was garbage at guitar. He had very little technical skills and did nothing that set him apart from anyone else. Sure, as a songwriter he started a whole movement and made grunge popular, but when it came to his actual guitar playing, he did nothing special.
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I didn't say he was necessarily great or special. Just good. He played cliche rock, but he did a heckuva job of it. Guitar doesn't necessarily have to be innovative.
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quote:Originally posted by Adso: Andres Segovia is a pretty well-known classical guitarist that I like.
That's like saying Isaac Newton was a pretty well-known physicist. Segovia essentially invented the modern nylon string classical guitar as well as the modern classical fingerpicking style. Every classical guitarist I've known could trace his guitar "lineage" to Segovia. "I studied under X, who studied under G, who studied under Z who was a student of Segovia".
I haven't been able to verify this story so it could be a myth but I've heard it told that John Lennon once commented that Segovia was "the granddaddy of us all". When Segovia was questioned about it, he replied "The Beattles don't even qualify as my bastard step children".
It's not much more than shredding, but he's pretty damn fast. But don't think this is all he can do. He can write amazing songs, too.
I can't find any good videos of Paul Gilbert on Youtube. Most of them are only videos showcasing his shredding skills, but he's so much more than that.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by twinky: Yngwie Malmsteen (Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor) John Petrucci (Train of Thought, Octavarium) Added: Both of those are with Dream Theater.
I'm not huge on Joe Satriani, but the guy can play. Added: Oh, and Steve Vai.
Edited because Michael Romeo deserves to be in there too.
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned Pat Metheny, The Edge, Lou Reed or Jack White yet. It would seem as though those ones are obvious, yet I just keep waiting...
And Peter Frampton made the best selling live album in history, so you can't leave him out either.
Brian Setzer has a style that never fails to deliver an adrenaline rush. One of those guys that can make lightning fretwork sound easy and fun.
And if you want someone known more for boundless creativity than just plain shredding, you can't go wrong with Robert Fripp.
Bob Mould can do things with a guitar you can't imagine. And Tom Verlaine's guitar broke ground 30 years ago still being trodden today.
With all the prog-rock fans around, I'm surprised Steve Howe hasn't received any love so far.
If you're into blues, you really should check out Ali Farka Toure.
Larry Carlton was ubiquitous for a decade or so back in the '70s and '80s. He made a bunch of albums himself, and played with just about anyone you can imagine. He's one of those rare musicians who is as unique as he is brilliant. Once you know him you can pick out his work from miles off, and tell him apart from any other guitarist in the world.
Just a few of my picks. Hope that helps.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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Is Jack White really all that of an amazing guitarist? I've only heard him in the White Stripes.
My favorite guitary type people would be:
My main man, the #1 Ry Cooder who plays the most amazing slide I've ever heard. ('cept fer maybe Elmore James). Ry's the kind of guy whose mastered his instrument so much he plays it as naturally as he talks.
Adrian Belew who sits in the middle of a very disciplined and very playful way of wielding his machine. i lurv hims <3 He's an alumni of a band that contained a Mr.
Robert Fripp, the anchor for one of my absolute favorite rock monstrosities: King hot damn Crimson. That man can make me love a strictly constructed intimidating mathematical sounding piece of wonderful thing. If you're looking for a brilliant guitar album look no further than the Intergalatic Boogie Express. Ya hew!
David Byrne, who I don't exactly consider a Guitar Person (and whose great Guitar Clip I can't find, off an album called The Forest, a track called Samara) but he's a dude whose so comfortable with the device that it just sounds like he's playing the strings of hims heart (d'awww, here's a non-guitary clip of him in a hat). But mostly he plays an excellent rhythym guitar.
And the already mentioned Frank Zappa, who on top of real dirty can play incredibly loose yet keep it all together - a real master of improvisational playing (the linked example not being an entirely fantastic example, but it was easy to find). He recommends old jazzer Wes Montgomery to those wanting to learn the ways of the axe.
Snakefinger, whose oily digits thrill my inner teenage fan girl despite his modesty in the showy offy department. My attachment to him helps that has his lent his talents to the works of The Residents
Nolan Cook who now lends the strange things he can get out of a guiatar to The Residents after Snakefinger passed away.
Edited for links 'n dinks
P.S.
Oh yes, you must check out whoever plays in Estradasphere (aren't familiar with the member names or who does what). Check out their audio section and listen to "Flower Garden of an Evil Man".
and wOoAaOh check out the Trace Bundy guy! Neater than neat!
[ March 31, 2007, 03:53 AM: Message edited by: The Flying Dracula Hair ]
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